Carl Icahn’s biggest hits and misses of 2014

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is ending a busy 2014 on an active note, revealing on Monday a 7.8% stake in Manitowoc Co.
MTW, -0.58%
, sending shares higher as he called on the company to split its crane-building and food-services businesses.

Here’s a quick look back at some of Icahn’s biggest hits and misses of the year:

Energy: It’s no secret that energy investments, which had previously delivered winners for Icahn, have taken a beating as oil prices plunge on a combination of a global supply glut and lackluster demand growth. Icahn Enterprises
IEP, -0.04%
in November blamed energy investment losses for a third-quarter net loss of $355 million. Icahn Enterprises is down 15.2% year to date, with the bulk of the fall coming since the end of the third quarter.

Among his top holdings, Texas-based CVR Energy
CVI, -0.32%
is down 11.8% since the end of the third quarter for a 9.2% year-to-date loss. Icahn held nearly 71.2 million shares worth $3.18 billion as of Sept. 30, according to his individual 13F filing, making it the third-largest position in his portfolio.

Meanwhile, Chesapeake Energy
CHK, +0.00%
is down nearly 14% since the end of the third quarter, contributing to a 22.8% year-to-date slide. Icahn’s stake, worth $1.53 billion on Sept. 30, would now be worth around $1.32 billion.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Dec. 15, Icahn said oil will offer investors “a great opportunity, but not now.” He predicted more pain for energy companies, especially in oil services, but said he expected the oil slide to eventually provide a “tremendous opportunity.”

Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.72%
: According to regulatory filings, the tech behemoth remained Icahn’s second-largest holding as of the end of the third quarter, behind only his own Icahn Enterprises. Apple shares are up nearly 43% year-to-date, including a 13.6% rise since the beginning of the fourth quarter. Assuming Icahn hasn’t cut or added to his position, his Apple stake is now worth north of $6 billion versus a value of more than $5.3 billion on Sept. 30.

EBay Inc.EBAY, +0.19%
: After initially resisting Icahn’s call to spin off payment service PayPal in what became a nasty corporate battle, eBay pulled an about face in September. Icahn boosted his eBay stake by more than 15 million shares in the third quarter, bringing his total to more than 45.8 million as of Sept. 30, valued then at $2.595 billion. EBay has subsequently risen another 1%, bringing its year-to-date rise to 4.3%.

Hertz Global Holdings HTZ, +1.18%
: Icahn revealed a new 38.8 million-share stake in the car rental company in the third quarter. He subsequently raised the stake to 49.3 million shares in November after the company appointed John Tague as chief executive officer, a move Icahn applauded in a tweet. Share are off 0.4% since Sept. 30, having partly recovered from a mid-November tumble in the wake of earnings restatements that saw Icahn take a one-day hit worth $40 million.

The table below, compiled by Whalewisdom.com, offers a rough look at the value of Icahn’s portfolio over time.

Market value

The value of Carl Icahn’s holdings, as reported in quarterly regulatory filings*

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only.
Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.